DIY Knife Drawer Block

I created a new knife drawer block for knife storage. We had a knife block on the counter and a drawer of other knives. So I had duplicates and knives in two different places.I emptied out the drawer I would be using. Vacuumed it really well. Then, I added some shelf liner. I used wood from our scrap wood pile. I found some pieces of 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ wood and also 1″ x 1/2″ wood. Using our Ryobi compound miter saw, I cut them each down to the width of my drawer. I drew lines where I wanted each cut to be to put the knives in. My piece of wood was 9 1/8″ and I separated them by 3/4″ so I was able to get 11 slots in the larger piece. Originally I tried just cutting down with the compound miter saw using the metal guide that is attached. This didn’t work because it was cutting my notches at an angle. I ended up using a scrap piece of 1 1/2 x 1 1/2″ wood between the metal guide and the piece I was cutting. I was careful to hold the pieces tightly together. I cut a smaller piece of wood for the handles to rest on. After cutting all the pieces and notches, I sanded the wood smooth with my Ryobi sander. I then measured from the front of the drawer to the first piece of wood. It was 5″. I made another set of wood pieces. This time since they would hold smaller knives, I made the slots 1/2″ apart. Now, all my knives fit neatly inside the drawer, and I was able to get the knife block off my counter.